How to make the healthiest cup of tea

Tea expert Dr Tim Bond explains how to make the healthiest cup of tea with the help of TV presenter Cherry Healey and the Women's Institute.

Brewing tea longer increases the level of antioxidants called flavonoids, also found in fruit and vegetables, which may help in the fight against heart disease and cancer by neutralising harmful chemicals in the blood.

Britain's Favourite Supermarket Foods will be broadcast on Wednesday 15 February at 20:00 GMT on BBC One or catch up later via the BBC iPlayer.

Chip wrote:... or just do more steeps (which increases cumulative brewing time)!

Doesn't matter how 'healthy' it is, I wouldn't touch a 10 minutes infusion of an aggressive young sheng. But give me the same tea and do it gongfu style, with 20 infusions or so, and I'll have enjoyed drinking 10-20 minutes' cumulative steeping by the end.

Although I do not drink tea for its health benefits ... directly ... I do drink it as a healthy alternative to much worse alternatives ...

Having said that, you have to be able to drink the tea in order to derive these so called health benefits. If a cuppa is undrinkable after a 10 minute steep, how often are you likely to drink tea? Likely once or twice. And in turn have zero health benefits from tea thereafter.